Are flawed Orange starting to crack?

I know I’m a couple days late on this, but wanted to share some thoughts on Syracuse’s second-straight loss on Monday against Marquette.

I know there are probably SU fans out there who are ready to write the season off and give up. I’m not ready to go that far yet, but I will say I have considered it.

There is no shame in losing to Georgetown or on the road at Marquette. Do I think the Orange have more talent and better players than either of those teams? Yes, I do. But more talent doesn’t always equal a win and I am not shocked Syracuse lost both games.

Davante Gardner left the Orange down and out (Courtesy: Syracuse Post-Standard)

But the team does seem to lack “it.” “It” is something that’s tough to define in sports, but it’s just that something that separates a good team from a great team. It’s not necessarily toughness or any sort of tangible element, it’s something intangible that you can just tell if a team has it or not after watching them for a length of time.

Listen, I hope I’m wrong and the team gets back on the winning track and goes deep in the NCAA Tournament. However, the way the team is playing right now, that doesn’t seem likely.

I’ve expressed admiration for senior Brandon Triche and his low-key way of playing. But he really struggled the last two games. Besides not making shots, he made several bad decisions you just don’t expect from a senior with so much experience. Based on his history though, he could easily rip off a five-game stretch of torrid play, you just never really know what you’re going to get with him.

The Orange were dominated inside again by Marquette, particularly Davante Gardner, who went for a career high and just pushed SU’s inside guys around like they weren’t even there.

Simply put, Syracuse needs to get more guys stepping up and playing better. I know that’s not exactly a bold statement, but outside of C.J. Fair, I’d say there’s no one on the team who is playing his very best right now.

The Orange have to finish strong or they run the risk of falling out of the top four in the conference standings and thus missing out on the double-bye in the Big East Tournament. Right now, Syracuse is tied for fourth-place and with Louisville visiting the Dome Saturday and a return trip to Georgetown a week later, the Orange may have to win four games in four days to capture the title in their last season in the conference.

I didn’t see the whole thing or read a whole lot about it, but it sounds like Coach was in a pretty foul mood after the loss. I did see that he had some gems including:

“Any more ideas for me, guys? I think you ought to know by now if you start asking me those questions, I just laugh at you. That’s all I’ll do.”

Or this one:

“Any more coaches here? Want to ask another coaching question? . . . I’m sure you’ve got more ideas of who we should play or shouldn’t play or who should lead. What do I know?”

For whatever reason, he has always taken well-intentioned questions as a statement that the interviewer knows more about coaching than he does.

I’ll readily admit the man has forgotten more about basketball than I’ve ever known. Sometimes you just wish he wouldn’t take it so personally or antagonistically.

Having been a part of the student media at Syracuse, I learned pretty quickly what happened when you ask questions that seem to be genuine in nature, but are taken to be accusatory. As a result, I also learned pretty quickly to let the guys who’ve been around longer to ask those questions and thus, take the verbal assaults.

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Lastly, Siena had a feel-good win over Radford on Sunday, rallying from eight points down with less than a minute to go to score an improbable win in overtime.

It was nice to see guys like Davis Martens (18 pts, 9 reb) and Chris Leppanen (7 pts, 7 reb, 2 TO) shine after playing sparingly for most of the season. With so many players hurt and unable to play, somebody had to step up and those two guys in particular did just that.

Next up is much-improved Marist, which in the last five games, has beaten Iona and Loyola, lost a close one against Niagara and, most recently, crushed VMI 112-74.

Former Siena recruiting target Chavaughn Lewis is playing at a First-Team All-MAAC level right now and big man Adam Kemp is coming on strong as well.

A Siena win against Marist ensures the Saints will not finish last and will definitely play either Marist or Saint Peter’s in the Opening Round of the tournament. A loss however, and the Saints will either need to beat Iona on Sunday or have Saint Peter’s lose both games out in Buffalo this weekend.

3 Responses

Robert, you hit the nail with your take on the Orange…that was what I was trying to say in the other post….it is the lack of the “IT” factor for me as well…still doesn’t mean you count them out cuz that old saying, “on paper” does fit with them….their talent level still rivals most teams….I actually turned the game as I thought they were pulling away from ‘Quette when they went up 7 around the 9 min. mark and when I went back it was down to two min. and they were down…

You may be spot on with the “IT” factor. Talented team, but seems leaderless on the court. CJ Fair is a great player, but not a leader. Triche and Carter-Williams don’t seem to mesh. Southerland, whether it’s his nature or by design, has become a three point bomber from any point on the court.

Cuse has a good of shot as any to win the tourney. I wouldn’t put Cuse in the Top 5, but tourney play is just one game.

If Cuse can make the Big East tourney semi-final, I see them as a 4-5 seed. If they make the final, they are a solid 3 seed.